{"id":9531,"date":"2024-01-08T15:02:52","date_gmt":"2024-01-08T14:02:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/?p=9531"},"modified":"2025-04-25T07:36:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T05:36:16","slug":"difference-between-co-and-co2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/2024\/01\/08\/difference-between-co-and-co2\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the difference between CO and CO2 gases?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carbon dioxide (CO\u2082) is currently a term commonly used in the media in connection with human impact on nature and climate change.<\/span><\/a> What they both have in common, besides those two letters, is that they are odorless, colorless gases and, in high concentrations, can be harmful to health or even fatal.<\/p>\n

What is CO \u2013 carbon monoxide?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Carbon monoxide is a colorless, tasteless, and odorless flammable gas that is produced by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels (e.g. coal, gas, wood). Incomplete combustion occurs when there is insufficient air supply during combustion. In the home, carbon monoxide is produced by poor combustion, which you may encounter in a gas instantaneous water heater or gas boiler, where the burning flame is not blue but orange. CO is also produced when wood is smoldering in a fireplace. It is not recommended to let wood smolder in a fireplace with the chimney flap closed. Increased concentrations are then caused by insufficient ventilation of the room. Leaky smoke channels, insufficient chimney draft or poorly cleaned and unmaintained equipment are dangerous.<\/p>\n

Outside the home, transport and all industrial processes involving combustion contribute to CO production. A significant amount is produced in the atmosphere by the oxidation of methane, and cigarette smoke is also a significant source.<\/p>\n

The most common sources of carbon monoxide in homes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 Karmas, gas boilers, gas heaters, gas ovens and stoves<\/p>\n

\u2013 Boilers (wood, coal, gas, pellets, heating oils)<\/p>\n

\u2013 Fireplaces, fireplace stoves, tiled stoves<\/p>\n

\u2013 Other fuel-burning devices<\/p>\n

How is carbon monoxide (CO) harmful and what does it do to us?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Carbon monoxide enters the body through inhalation and negatively affects the nervous system, heart and blood vessels. At lower concentrations, a healthy person may experience headaches and fatigue. If a person has heart problems, even a low concentration of CO can cause chest pain. Higher concentrations cause visual impairment, coordination, severe headaches, dizziness, hallucinations or even stomach upset. Elevated levels are particularly risky for people with chronic respiratory inflammation and for people with circulatory system diseases. Very high concentrations are fatal \u2013 a person will fall unconscious and die. Carbon monoxide poisoning affects more than a thousand people in the Czech Republic every year.<\/p>\n

Carbon monoxide leak protection \u2013 CO detector<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since CO gas is colorless, odorless, and undetectable to the human senses, it is recommended to install a CO detector in all rooms with a possible source of leakage. In addition to triggering an alarm when set values are exceeded, the detector records and monitors the CO level in the room. It is easy to install and in most cases only takes a few minutes.<\/p>\n

The best prevention and protection against CO leaks are regular inspections of appliances, as well as revisions of flues including chimneys, or replacing old equipment with modern types of fireplace stoves and boilers that have protection against flue gas backflow. When purchasing new heating sources, pay attention to professional installation and wiring.<\/p>\n

What is CO\u2082 \u2013 carbon dioxide?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Carbon dioxide, like carbon monoxide, is a colorless, tasteless, and odorless gas, but at higher concentrations it can have a slightly sour taste in the mouth. It is a normal part of the Earth's atmosphere. CO\u2082 is a product of human respiration, fermentation, decomposition, and combustion. Mainly due to human activity, the concentration of CO\u2082 in the atmosphere is increasing. This fact has a negative impact on the intensification of greenhouse effect<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The most common sources of carbon dioxide in homes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 People and pets<\/p>\n

\u2013 Fermentation, burning, cooking on a gas stove<\/p>\n

\u2013 Small-scale houseplants<\/p>\n

How does carbon dioxide (CO\u2082) harm us and what does it do to us?<\/strong><\/p>\n

High concentrations of carbon dioxide significantly affect the air quality in a room. If you do not ventilate regularly, unfavorable levels of CO\u2082 in a room can be reached relatively quickly. \u201cStuck\u201d air reduces alertness, increases fatigue, causes headaches, increased blood pressure, tinnitus, as well as nausea. Exposure to higher concentrations of carbon dioxide is considered dangerous to health - epileptic seizures, muscle disorders, a drop in blood pressure and unconsciousness can occur.<\/p>\n

Extreme concentration results in almost immediate unconsciousness and death within minutes.<\/p>\n

Carbon dioxide protection - CO\u2082 detector<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is no life-threatening concentration in the natural environment of humans that could poison a person. Nevertheless, some people buy carbon dioxide detectors for their homes as \u201cstale air\u201d detectors. Higher levels of CO\u2082 in the home are attributed to sleep difficulties and headaches. Measurement of the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air is most often carried out in workplaces in order to ensure hygienic and occupational safety conditions. To ensure hygienic and occupational safety conditions, it is necessary not to exceed the CO\u2082 limits set by applicable legal regulations. Spring<\/strong><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carbon dioxide (CO\u2082) is currently a term commonly used in the media in connection with human impact on nature and climate change. What they both have in common, apart from these two letters, is that they are odorless, colorless gases and in high concentrations can be harmful to health or even fatal. What is CO \u2013 carbon dioxide [\u2026]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-znizovanie_co2_cdr_ccs_ccu_dac"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9531\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}